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Fish fillets have a bad reputation on the grill. Why? Because it’s likely that they’ll stick to the grill grate, and when they do, you can forget about removing them in whole pieces. The delicate texture of cooked fish makes it virtually impossible to remove fillets neatly, so what you end up bringing to the table are inelegant shards of what you hoped would be an elegant piece of fish. Enter our recipe for perfectly grilled, easy-release fillets. You may find it surprising that the key to success revolves around how you treat the grill before you even begin to cook.

Here’s the secret: After heating the grill grate and scrubbing it clean, wipe the grate well with a wad of paper towels dipped in vegetable oil. Greasing the grate is not the objective here - rather, coating it with oil seasons the grate, much like you’d season a cast-iron skillet. Due to the high heat of the grate, the oil polymerizes, creating a layer that helps prevent proteins in the fish from sticking to the metal. When cooking delicate seafood, we recommend wiping the grate multiple times so that it builds up a coating, guaranteeing that your fish won’t stick.

This recipe works best with salmon fillets but can also be used with any thick, firm-fleshed white fish, like red snapper, grouper, halibut or sea bass. Cook white fish to 140 degrees, up to two minutes longer per side.Grilled Salmon with Olive Vinaigrette Makes 4 servings

*Green olives tend to be quite mild and mellow in flavor; large, plump green Cerignola olives from Italy are one of the most commonly available types of green olives. Black Kalamata olives have a sharper, brinier flavor than green olives. Use whichever type you prefer to make the vinaigrette.

**These days, many supermarkets offer both wild and farmed salmon varieties. We prefer wild salmon because we find its texture to be firmer and its flavor more buttery and fresh than farmed salmon. It is, however, more pricey. If all you can find are skinless salmon fillets, they’ll work too; treat the skinned side as if it were the skin side.

Prepare salmon:
8. Place fillets skin side up on a rimmed baking sheet or large plate lined with a clean kitchen towel.
9. Place another clean kitchen towel on top of the fillets and press down to pat fish dry.
10. Refrigerate fish, wrapped in towels, while preparing grill, at least 20 minutes. (If using gas grill, proceed to step 18.)

Prepare charcoal grill:
11. While fish dries, light a large chimney starter filled two-thirds with charcoal (4 quarts, about 65 briquettes).
12. Allow to burn until coals are fully ignited and partially covered with a thin layer of ash, about 15 to 20 minutes.
13. Build modified two-level fire by arranging coals to cover one half of grill, leaving the other half empty.
14. Position a cooking grate over coals, cover grill, and let the grate heat up, about 15 minutes.
15. Use grill brush to scrape cooking grate clean.
16. Lightly dip wad of paper towels in vegetable oil; holding wad with tongs, wipe grate.
17. Continue to wipe the grate with oiled paper towels, re-dipping towels in oil between applications, until grate is black and glossy, 5 to 10 times. (Proceed to step 22.)

Grill salmon and serve:
22. Brush both sides of fish with a thin coat of vegetable oil.
23. Season with salt and pepper.
24. Place fish skin side down on the grill, and diagonal to grate slats.
25. Reduce heat to medium, cover grill and cook without moving until skin side is brown, well-marked and crisp, 2 to 4 minutes.
26. Try lifting fish gently with spatula after 2 minutes; if it doesn’t cleanly lift off grill, continue to cook, checking at 30-second intervals, until it releases.
27. Using two spatulas, flip fish to second side.
28. Cover grill and cook until centers of fillets are opaque and register 125 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 3 to 7 minutes longer.
29. Stir vinaigrette and serve with grilled fish.

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Thinking things through

Since I'll probably Never get my grill grate to that nice pristine glossy state again, there's always using aluminum foil, into which you've punched holes so the smoke can mingle with the fish. Lightly oil the up-side of the foil, add your fish, and grill away. Yes, their method is better, but for saving over elbow grease that may have gone on vacation, it works.

Grilling fish over an open bbq is great, but really, if you want some very easy, very fast grilled fish, just do it on a cast iron ribbed grill in your kitchen. All the same technique applies. Use a little oil on the grill, season the fish, through it on. Cover it with a deep pan, flip, and done. No need to clean the grate, fire up the charcoal, get the temp right, etc.